Aspen Ideas to Go

As Latino Americans emerge as the majority minority and the new mainstream, representing 18 percent of the US population, questions are emerging about how Latinos fit into the national narrative. Latinos are revitalizing rural communities, starting businesses, and entering the workforce and educational system at record rates, yet they're often lost among the traditional storylines of race and identity. How is this population handling political pressures like the Wall, deportation, and President Trump's announcement that he's ending DACA? Featuring former Univision President Henry Cisneros, host of NPR’s “Latino USA” Maria Hinojosa, Janet Marguía, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, and Monica Lozano, chair of the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program.

Follow the show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to [email protected].

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What are the consequences of the United States backing out of the Paris Climate Agreement? In June, the Trump administration announced the move. In this episode, former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz says exiting the Agreement is bad for science-based decision making, national and energy security, and innovation. However, he says, there’s one note of optimism: cities, states, and the business community are primed to keep the country on course to the low carbon future that we need. Moniz speaks with Susan Tierney, a senior advisor at Analysis Group.

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Has the great American experiment in liberty gone off the rails? Kurt Andersen’s latest book, Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire, a 500 Year History, is a provocative chronicle of magical thinking and make-believe. It provides a new paradigm for understanding the post-factual present, where reality and illusion are dangerously blurred. He and journalist Jeffrey Goldberg discuss the history that religion plays in America’s roots and world view. According to Andersen, history shows Americans have a peculiar knack for believing the unbelievable — for being suckers for those who want to sucker them.

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The Trump Administration has said it’s “committed to a foreign policy focused on American interests and American national security.” Critics have said Trump is isolating the US by withdrawing from the Paris agreement, waffling on a commitment to NATO, and abandoning the TPP. But, this month the president deepened American involvement abroad by announcing the US would deploy more troops to Afghanistan. It’s a conflict he once called “futile,” reports the New York Times. What is the Trump doctrine on foreign policy? Featuring Julia Ioffe, reporter for The Atlantic, David Petraeus, former CIA director, Peter Feaver, Duke political science professor, and David Rothkopf, CEO of The Rothkopf Group.

This week’s recommended companion episode is “Combating Kleptocracy.” Find it here. Follow the show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to [email protected].

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CRISPR is the cheapest, simplest, and most effective way of manipulating DNA. It has the power to give us the cure to HIV, genetic diseases, and some cancers. It could even help address the world’s hunger crisis. But, it may result in unforeseen consequences. The technology could lead to intentionally mutating embryos to create “better” humans. Jennifer Doudna, whose research helped create CRISPR, speaks with Aspen Institute President Walter Isaacson about the latest technological developments in gene editing and the unthinkable power to control evolution. Doudna wrote the book A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution with her fellow researcher Samuel Sternberg.

This week’s recommended companion episode is “Should We Design Our Babies?.” Find it here. Follow the show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to [email protected].

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What role does faith play in bringing people together? Reverend Adam Hamilton pastors the largest United Methodist church in America. Within his Kansas congregation, he observes deep divisions that reflect the larger disunity in our nation. These divisions, he thinks, are tearing at our social fabric. His plan: to get people to think differently by focusing on influencing, not irritating, and seeing the humanity in others — even those we strongly disagree with. He speaks with David Brooks, New York Times op-ed columnist and commentator on the “PBS Newshour.”

This week's recommended companion episode is "Faith and the Public Square." Find it here. Follow the show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to [email protected].

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Hate groups are growing and the number of hate-fueled incidents is spiking in America. The latest incident was in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white nationalists violently clashed with anti-fascist groups and other protesters. In the first month after Donald Trump won the presidency, the Southern Poverty Law Center catalogued 1,051 acts of intimidation and hate. Is hate on the rise? How do the events of today compare to other periods of extremism in America? Featured speakers are Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, Jonathan Greenblatt, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Wajahat Ali, New York Times op-ed contributor, and Matt Thompson, deputy editor of The Atlantic.

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It’s been called the most perilous drug crisis ever and it was generated in the healthcare system. The epicenter of the opioid crisis is the United States, where overdose deaths have quadrupled since 1999. President Trump has pledged to step up law enforcement and prevention. In this episode, a panel of experts discuss what’s being done, what needs to be done, and what we know works and doesn’t. Featuring Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, Vivek Murthy, former US Surgeon General, Perri Peltz, director of the HBO documentary Warning: This Drug May Kill You, Yasmin Hurd, director of the Addictive Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, and Jackie Judd, special correspondent for the “PBS NewsHour.”

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In this episode, you’ll hear from the nation’s new White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly. Kelly spoke in July at the Aspen Security Forum. At the time, his job was Homeland Security Secretary. In his conversation with Pete Williams, justice correspondent for NBC News, Kelly talks about Putin’s Russia, cybersecurity, and immigration. You’ll also get a glimpse of his leadership style. How will it apply to his new role as Chief of Staff?

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The confluence of globalization and the information revolution has primed the United States, and the world, for a resurgence of populism. Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” explains how the populist ideology helped President Trump win the White House. Trump’s message of cultural anxiety connected with voters. It’s not an unfamiliar ideology. In this episode, Zakaria opens the history book and explains how past trends are re-emerging today. He also reflects on the rise and root causes of populism from his own experience, as an immigrant.

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